Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has revealed that he views Romeo Lavia as following a similar fitness journey to Reece James.
The pair have been plagued by injuries across recent seasons with Lavia having notably not completed 90 minutes in a Chelsea shirt since his arrival in the summer of 2023.
However, James has made significant progress on that front since the arrival of Maresca, who has either used him as a right-back or central midfielder.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of Wednesday's Champions League fixture at Qarabag FK, Maresca suggested that the occasional switch of positions was partly due to fitness reasons.
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca on October 29, 2025
Maresca speaks on James, Lavia comparisons
When quizzed on whether the Blues captain is ready to play three times a week, Maresca said: "Reece is good, he is doing well. He is fit, 100%. The way he has behaved every game is top.
"Even when he is not playing, the way he is with his teammates in the dressing room. In the way we use Reece, we don't use him up and down.
"It's a big job to do that when we use a full-back in a different way. He is ready to play three games in a week."
In total, James has managed to make eight starts and four substitute outings in all competitions during 2025-26, but it appears likely that he will be named on the substitutes' bench for Wednesday's game in Azerbaijan with a Premier League fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers to come on Saturday evening.
Chelsea's Romeo Lavia pictured in may 2025
How does Maresca view Lavia progress?
Meanwhile, Lavia has made three starts and three substitute outings since September 27 having previously been absent since the Club World Cup.
The Belgian is an obvious candidate to return to the starting lineup against Qarabag, but Maresca hinted that an appearance in the first XI is not a foregone conclusion.
He added: "The main target for Romeo is now to be fit. Don't get any injuries. For me, in this moment, Romeo is where Reece was more or less one year ago in terms of being back after a long time.
"We need to manage him all the time. The target for him is to keep him fit. We need to be very careful with him because we don't want him to be out again and finally he can enjoy being a footballer."
Maresca also revealed during his media briefing that one of Chelsea's star players had joined the unavailable list for the upcoming match.
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